This week I’ve been using the Topre Type Heaven as my primary keyboard. We reviewed it upon its initial release in 2013, but now there’s been an update: new colours! As of now, you can choose the Type Heaven in pink, red, white and (the original) black. Awesome!

I’ve been rocking the Pink model all this week, and it’s attracted a fair amount of praise from the nominal foot traffic that my desk gets. Of course, it still has the same smooth and luxurious electro-capacitive switches that Topre is famous for.

If you’re interested in picking up a Type Heaven in a fun colour, check out the links below.

What follows are some photos of the Pink Type Heaven to give you a better idea of what it looks like outside of our normal stock photography. Enjoy, and feel free to share any questions or comments below!

Cool, right? I’m a fan! If you’re interested in a Type Heaven in pink, red, white or black, here are those links once again. Peace!

I really love keyboards — I like using them, I like writing about them, and I like playing typing games, as I’ve mentioned before! Today I was playing a game called Keyboard Sports, and I’ve gotta tell you about it — because unlike most keyboard-focused games, this game is not at all about learning how to type.

Instead, Keyboard Sports delights in using the full span of your keyboard in some novel and very fun ways. The core principle is that your character moves towards the key you press — so hit space, and he’ll run towards the bottom of the screen, hit backspace and he’ll go into the upper right corner. That’s a completely different concept than the normal WASD or arrow key system of movement, and it’s pleasantly mind-breaking in the same way that QWOP is.

Using this mechanic, you guide your character through a number of different scenarios that are all conveniently the size of your keyboard. I won’t spoil the game by listing each encounter, but there’s a good mixture of fast and slow sections, strung together with a pleasantly improbable storyline about ‘taking CTRL’ and finding your ‘inner key’.

The game doesn’t last too long, clocking in at under an hour, but each section is replayable (with a fairly long final section that seems a bit randomised). It’s a pleasant experience throughout, with cute graphics and a winningly earnest theme song.

If you want to give it a go, it’s available on the Humble Monthly, but you’ll need to sign up for the service on or before November 4th to get the game for $12. (You also get 10% off in the Humble Bundle store and a free game each month as long as your subscription is active). An extended version of the game will be available next year on Steam as well, if you’d rather wait.

Keyboard Sports is billed as ‘the final tribute to the keyboard’, and is proudly offered on PC only — the Danish developers Triband state that it’ll ‘never be available on PlayStation, Xbox, iOS, Android or Virtual Reality.’

Design

The V100 has a full-size American (ANSI) layout, including a number pad on the right hand side. Various modes — caps lock, num lock, scroll lock — are shown via red LEDs on the right hand side of the board.

There’s also a Fn layer, which allows access to media controls on the F keys — you can skip tracks back and forward, play/pause, stop, adjust the volume and mute. There’s also a gaming mode key (Fn + F12) which disables the Windows keys to prevent accidental presses mid-game.

One of the best parts of the KBP V100 is that it comes with high-quality double shot keycaps right out of the box. That means the legends will never fade away, even as the surface of the keycap is worn. This kind of keycap is more complex and expensive to produce, but it does produce a quality result.

We’re offering two classic colour schemes for the keycaps: Dolch and Olivetti. Dolch is rendered in black and brown with white legends, while Olivetti opts for white and grey keycaps with dark blue legends. Both offer retro styling, evoking memories of the keyboards of old.

If you ever decide to replace these keycaps, you’ll find it easy to do so thanks to their standard layout.

Underneath the keycaps, you’ll find Cherry MX Brown switches. These offer a nice blend of good tactile feedback and a low actuation force, making them comfortable to use for extended periods. I personally also find them a great gaming switch, particularly for strategy and shooter titles.

All in all, it’s a solid full-size keyboard that serves as a nice alternative to KBP’s smaller efforts. If you like KBP’s style but don’t want to give up a number pad, F keys and other accoutrements with a 60% or 80% keyboard, the V100 is an awesome choice with great keycaps.

Impressions

In order to get to grips with the V100, I used it as my primary keyboard at home for a week. That week included five days of writing and editing (around 2,000 words per day), and about 15 hours of playing games including Counter-Strike, StarCraft II and Overwatch.

The full size layout means this keyboard is less suitable for portable use or cramped desks; for these situations we’d recommend a V60 or V80 keyboard instead. However, if you have the space for it — and particularly if you like to use the number pad — then the V100 is a great choice. Its bezels are a bit wider than other keyboards, but I didn’t notice this in practice — apart from the bottom of the keyboard, which served as a comfortable palm rest!

The V100 served well for both typing and gaming, with a sufficient tactile feedback. It also sounded good, with a nice report, without being overly loud. The standard full-size layout meant I didn’t have to relearn any key positions, and the media keys felt natural and easy to use.

I didn’t find any major flaws with the keyboard, which felt well-constructed and of sound design. The only real annoyance was the brightness of the LEDs, which I felt were a bit too bright. However, I got used to this over time, and wasn’t a dealbreaker by any means.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the V100, and I’ll be sad to see it returned to KeyboardCo HQ! It felt great, looked good on my desk and it makes me want to put double shot keycaps on more of my keyboards!

Price & Availability

The KBP V100 is available for £115. You can find more information about the keyboard, and order one for yourself, via the links below:

Thanks for checking out the article, and be sure to share your thoughts via the comments below. You can also reach us on Twitter @keyboardco, or at facebook.com/keyboardco. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your week!

It’s been a few months since I wrote for the blog, and what a few months… It seems we are now heading towards an exit from the EU.

As a rule I would avoid anything political on here but I felt it worth a mention as we are dealing with people all around Europe and all around the world.

As a company we intend to continue to do our utmost for our customers in Europe and we will redouble those efforts. It is unlikely that the political details will be sorted out for some time and it seems likely that trading in electronics will be largely unaffected even if we were to trade on WTO terms. Ultimately, we see no reason to change tack.

The currency situation has been the most noticeable effect of the vote to date and this is not all bad. It is currently the case that anyone buying from overseas is getting a discount of about 10%. This is helping sales so the early signs are promising. Please feel free to get on and bag a bargain!

So I feel it is all the more important now that we ensure we have the very best range of keyboards to offer and that we support this with first class service. Elsewhere in the newsletter you will see we have some excellent new keyboards on offer and we are continually looking to add to the range. Recent additions like the Filco Convertible wireless model and the Ergo Pro from Matias are already amongst our best sellers.

You’ll see that I have been having some fun with the guys from TechRadar chatting about keyboards. They were really interested to know more about what it is that makes us enjoy some keyboards more than others – particularly when it comes to mechanical switch models. We chatted about the ways we interact with our keyboards and how our fingers and brains work together when we type. It’s all on the video here.

If you happen to be in Birmingham this Thursday, the 29th, we will be at the St Andrews Stadium, home to Birmingham City Football Club, for Midlands Expo 2016. Come along and say hi.

We’re happy to announce that The Keyboard Company will be attending the Midlands Expo on Thursday 29th September! The show runs from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM at Birmingham City FC, St Andrews Stadium.

We’ll have a booth set up with a range of mechanical keyboards, ergonomic accessories and much more. Visit us and try out some mechs before you buy, and have a chat with Bruce and the rest of the KeyboardCo team!

Everyone who visits the stand will get a free entry into our giveaway for a Filco MiniLa worth £114! This small form factor mechanical keyboard has been one of our most popular sellers, and it’s great for working home or away.

Entry to the Midlands Expo is absolutely free, and you can register online here. As well as the Keyboard Company, there are some interesting speakers from across the business world, interactive workshops and a legion of other exhibitors. It should be a blast!

Even if you’re not that interested in business, it’s a great chance to try out new mechanical keyboards and be in with a chance of winning one too! Plus, you can probably get the day off work if you say that you’re going to a business expo! 😉

Be sure to come on down and say hello — we’ll see you there! For more information on the show, check out the official website.

Our fearless leader Bruce recently starred in a video on ‘the subliminal appeal of mechanical keyboards’ that was produced by tech pub legends TechRadar. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look — we’ve embedded it below. How many old school keyboards can you spot, and which is your favourite? We’d love to hear your thoughts too, so please share them below!

Today, we’re taking a look at the latest from Matias: the Wireless Aluminum Keyboard. This keyboard is designed as a full format alternative to the Apple Wireless Keyboard, offering a similar style but with Bluetooth and a number pad. They’re arrived in stock at KeyboardCo, so let’s go hands-on and have a look!

Our first impressions

The first thing you’ll notice is how solid this keyboard feels in your hands. It’s made from a single piece of aluminium, giving it impressive rigidity and strength. It’s cool to the touch as you take it out of the box, and warms up nicely as you begin to type away.

Under the fingers, this Matias keyboard feels very similar to Apple’s own. There’s a good amount of travel in the keys, and the low profile keycaps make it easy to glide around the keyboard at some speed.

There are function keys at the top for performing common commands like raising the volume or adjusting your screen brightness, and of course there’s that full number pad on the right hand side. This is brilliant for anything that requires typing numbers often, like math work, spreadsheets or data entry.

It’s a standard Mac layout, but it will work with Windows, Android and other operating systems too — you’ll just need to ignore some of the legends on the keys!

On your desk, the Matias Wireless Aluminum Keyboard is just as pretty as Apple’s model, and pairs nicely with an Apple Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse. There are a few keyboards that attempt to mimic Apple’s aesthetic, but Matias get it dead on, and back it up with quality materials and a sensible design.

The Wireless Aluminum keyboard is available in four colours in US layout; this is the silver model. The other options are gold, rose gold and space grey — which you might recognise as the current colour options for the iPhone, iPad and MacBook. If you want a perfectly matching keyboard, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also got the UK layout model in silver.

Initial setup

You get a Micro USB charging cable in the box, and you’re encouraged to let the keyboard charge fully before starting to use it. That’s sensible advice, so I left the keyboard plugged in for a few hours, until the amber light on the Caps Lock key disappeared. Once charged, the keyboard should last a year before needing another top-up, so this initial wait is pretty understandable.

Once it’s ready to go, you just need to pair it with your device — which can be an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac laptop or desktop, a Windows PC of any description, or even an Android phone or tablet. Simply turn on the keyboard via the on/off switch on its back, then press and hold one of the four pairing keys above the numberpad. This key will start flashing blue to let you know it’s ready to pair, and then you pair as you normally do on your device of choice.

The process takes only a few seconds, and once pairing is complete you can re-engage the connection by pressing one of these Bluetooth keys again. There are four in all, so you can store four Bluetooth connections simultaneously and switch between different devices with ease. If it sounds complicated, it’s really not, and it’s all explained very carefully in the instruction card that accompanies the keyboard.

Closing thoughts

The Matias Wireless Aluminum keyboard is a nice addition to any desk. It’s stylish, well-designed and gets the job done. Because it’s Bluetooth, you can use it with basically every device you own, from laptops and desktops to smartphones and tablets. If you’re looking for a full-size keyboard with a number pad and you like Apple’s style, this is a great choice.

The Matias Wireless Aluminum Keyboard is available now at KeyboardCo. Choose the colour of your choice to see more information and get one for yourself!

It’s long been my dream to make my own keyboard. Almost every day it seems that there’s someone new on Twitter or Reddit that’s produced a gorgeous custom keyboard, and I can only marvel at the self-made layouts, beautiful engineering and exotic materials used in their construction. This week though, I got a little closer to my dream as I built my own (tiny) keyboard. It’s available as a kit from KeyboardCo, and it’s called the Max Keyboard Falcon-8.

Unboxing

The Falcon-8 requires a little construction before it’ll work, but you’re given everything you need to get started inside the box — apart from a soldering iron.

(We’ll also offer the Falcon-8 pre-assembled in the future, if you’d prefer.)

There’s the board itself, a collection of switches (in your choice of colours), some matching transparent keycaps, LEDs and a case. There’s also a micro USB cable to connect the board to your PC, some screws and some little plasticky stickers.

The build

The first step of preparing the Falcon-8 for use is to put it together. This is pretty easy — just place the circuit board into the metal case, add screws to secure it, then cover the screws with some rubbery feet to ensure the finished product doesn’t skitter around your desk. Then it’s time to pop in the switches, and your keyboard is starting to look complete.

After that, it’s time to get out your soldering iron! I picked one up off Amazon for about £15, and it came with some solder and different tips. You could also use a stand and sponge, and either a solder sucker or braid to remove solder if you get things a bit wrong.

Now I’ve never used a soldering iron before, so I was a little scared of using it on a keyboard (even a tiny one designed to be built this way). Thankfully, it’s pretty simple stuff; as long as you keep the hot tip away from everything but the solder, you can’t go too far wrong. The solder naturally forms cute little cones over the connections to the switch, so it’s just a case of adding a bit of solder in approximately the right area, then moving onto the next bit. All told, it took me only a couple of minutes to do all sixteen connections.

Next is the somewhat trickier bit: adding the LEDs. You need to push an LED into each switch, then hold it in place while you’re soldering the two pins to the board.

The board remains upside-down at this point, so gravity will want to pull the LEDs back out of the switch. Remember this, and keep the LEDs in position until the solder has hardened, or you’ll end up with LEDs that sit too high up and bash into the keycap when it’s depressed! You also need to ensure that your two piles of solder remain separated, so be sparing with the amount that you use.

Once soldered, the excess metal is clipped from the ends. I ended up using good old metal fatigue as I couldn’t be bothered to fetch my clippers, and I ended up with slightly jagged edges. Don’t be lazy like me; do this properly!

Once the solder has dried, you’re good to go! Add your keycaps and connect up the keyboard to your PC, and test to make sure all the keys work (I used VLC on a multi-song playlist to test each button’s default bindings, shown below).

n.b. If you’re removing or changing keycaps, remember to wiggle them as you pull them off. I ended up having to replace one switch after I pulled its cap off a little too hard; the keycap remained in place but the inside portion of the switch came out of its housing! Whoops.

Programming

The Falcon-8 comes out of the box with some useful functions already pre-programmed: media keys! The diagram below shows the layout, incorporating volume and playback controls. You can launch your media player, skip back and forth, turn up for what, etc etc.

Changing these bindings is extremely easy. You just have to move a jumper on the bottom of the board, press the rest button twice, and start up the Progamming / Configurator app (I used version 2.1, available here) for Windows.

Then, it’s just a case of selecting which key you want to reconfigure, and choosing its new function. You can make it mirror any key on the keyboard, as well as set up more complex macros. You could also set up macros in something like AutoHotkey, if you preferred. Once you’re done, reset the Falcon-8 and switch the jumper back over, and you’re good to go.

Either way, it’s pretty easy to get basic functions going, and it’s deep enough that you can perform quite complicated actions once you get your head around the programming interface.

Lighting

The Falcon-8 comes with backlighting for all eight keys. By default these flash rhythmically, but you can choose to keep them on all the time, react to your key presses, extinguish them altogether and more. There’s a small button on the underside of the board that switches between different modes.

Wrapping up

Now that it’s complete, the Max Keyboard Falcon-8 remains proudly on my desk, where I’m using it to add macro keys to my small form factor keyboard and control the volume on my PC. I also installed five different MX switches, making it a good switch tester as well. Despite my amateur soldering, it’s working great and the metal case ensure it feels solid too. Awesome.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at building, programming and using the Falcon-8 from Max Keyboard and KeyboardCo! I certainly had a lot of fun building it, and I’m excited to see what these boards will be used for in the future. It’s also made me more confident in my abilities, and I feel better prepared for making my own custom board in the future. Cool stuff all around.

Thanks for checking out the article. Be sure to let us know what you thought in the comments, or talk to us on our regular social media channels. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your week!

As a translator, I spend many hours a day at my computer, yet for years I didn’t give my keyboard a second thought. I switched happily between a basic external keyboard – the sort that comes bundled with a desktop computer – and my laptop keyboard when I was out and about. After all, I thought, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Six months ago, I was asked to give a webinar on typing tips for translators (on touch typing, shortcuts and other time-saving solutions) and I exchanged a few emails on keyboards and layouts with The Keyboard Company experts, who casually mentioned that “mechanicals are like the old car advert… Once driven, forever smitten”. Fascinated to discover what I had been missing all these years, I bought a Filco Majestouch-2.

Remember what it’s like when you buy a new kitchen knife? You suddenly realise how blunt your old knives are. I’d spent years typing on a mushy keyboard, not realising how much effort I had to make for each keypress. I wasn’t getting any aches or pains and I could type fairly fast on it (I average about 75 words per minute). Why splash out on a new keyboard if you’re getting on OK with your present one?

Well, a membrane keyboard gets harder to type on as time goes by because the rubber domes under each key get stiffer. It happens gradually so you’re not aware of the change. It’s a bit like putting on weight: you don’t notice until you get on the scales one day or try to squeeze into last year’s jeans.

Mechanical switches

Mechanical keyboards are completely different. From the very first test run, I was smiling. If you’ve ever tried mechanical switches, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

The Cherry MX Brown switches are a joy to type on. They have a bright, crisp feeling, with a slight bump (tactile feedback) to tell you when the keypress has registered just half way through the key travel. That’s totally different from a membrane keyboard, where you have to press each key right down to the base (bottoming out, as the experts say). With a mechanical keyboard you can type more lightly. It was actually quite hard not to bottom out the keys on my Filco to begin with, but after a few days I’d learnt to exert just the right pressure. I don’t think I’m typing faster now, but I’m definitely typing more lightly.

Noise

What about the noisy reputation that mechanical keyboards have? Well, for a start, many freelance translators work from home and not in an office, so there’s not much of a chance of bothering coworkers (unless you count your cat). On the other hand, I was a bit concerned that the clicky keys might invade the peace of my silent home office. Fortunately it hasn’t bothered me at all. I know brown switches are quieter than others (blue being the noisiest), but I actually find the rhythmic clatter quite conducive to keeping up a good translating pace.

Layout

I wanted a keyboard with a Spanish layout. It’s easy to switch input language with Windows and I can key in an ñ or an é without looking down, but with an English layout I confuse curly brackets, asterisks and other rarely-used symbols. The Filco Majestouch-2 comes in a wide range of languages, so it was a perfect choice for me.

Cost

For professional translators who have a keyboard at their fingertips all day, the extra cost of a mechanical keyboard should be a minor consideration in their work set-up. We invest in the latest software and up-to-date hardware components; a good quality keyboard should go hand in hand with those investments. If you calculate the cost per year of keyboard life, the investment is actually minimal.

Reliability

The downside is that mechanical keyboards seem to have more teething problems than others, and I was unlucky that I had to return my first Filco due to occasional keystroke issues.

The upside is that a mechanical keyboard is an investment that will last. They have a longer lifespan than their membrane counterparts, which is good news for translators who crunch their way through 2-3 million keystrokes a year.

The acid test

After several months, I went back to my old Logitech membrane keyboard, just out of interest. It was stodgy and tiring to type on. After just half an hour, I could feel the finger fatigue. Honestly, I cannot believe I ever thought this was comfortable.

What keyboards do other translators use?

You’d think that most translators would be mechanical keyboard fans. Or that they’d go down another road and use ergonomic keyboards.

Well, you’ll be surprised to learn that just 3% use mechanical switches and only a small proportion, 17%, use ergonomic keyboards.*

* Data from a survey carried out in January 2016 among 817 translators

Why so few?

I’d love to find out why so few translators use mechanical keyboards. Is it the expense? Is it because they’ve simply never tried one out?

Please drop a comment below with your thoughts on this. Which keyboard do you use and why?

And if you’re not a translator, but would like to share your favourite keyboard and the reasons you chose it, I’d love to hear from you too!

Emma Goldsmith is a freelance Spanish to English medical translator who made a career switch from nursing some 25 years ago. She translates a wide range of texts, from cardiology research articles in medical journals to the leaflets that come in medicine boxes. Find out more about her at goldsmithtranslations.com.